Chapter Seventeen
Georgiana and Elizabeth
Georgiana came to Longbourn.
Mrs. Bennet nearly expired.
"Mr. Darcy's sister?" she asked for the fourth time that morning.
Elizabeth fastened a bracelet while Jane attempted to calm their mother. "Yes, Mama."
"Sixteen?"
"Yes."
"Thirty thousand pounds?"
Elizabeth closed her eyes. "Mama."
"What? I only asked."
"You know the answer."
Mrs. Bennet brightened. "I do."
Nothing about death, time, or a second life changed Mrs. Bennet.
Elizabeth found that oddly reassuring.
Georgiana entered shyly, with Darcy and Bingley behind her. Mrs. Bennet overwhelmed her within four minutes.
"My dear Miss Darcy, we are delighted. Lizzy tells me you play beautifully. Mr. Darcy himself said you are exceedingly accomplished. You must play for us."
Georgiana paled.
Darcy stepped forward.
Elizabeth beat him to it. "Later, Mama. Miss Darcy has only arrived."
"But the instrument is right there."
"It will remain right there after tea."
Mrs. Bennet huffed but allowed Jane to redirect her toward Bingley's opinion of the roads.
Georgiana glanced gratefully at Elizabeth.
Darcy relaxed.
Mary surprised everyone.
She looked at Georgiana and said, with awkward sincerity, "You need not play at all. People ask too often when they learn one plays. Sometimes one does not wish to perform."
Georgiana's expression softened. "Yes."
Mary flushed. "I only meant--"
"I understand."
They sat together.
Within half an hour Mary and Georgiana were discussing music. Mary spoke too formally, but Georgiana did not mind. She preferred predictable conversation to cleverness that demanded quick answers.
Elizabeth looked at Darcy.
His eyes were wet. Barely. No one else would notice.
She knew.
Their Georgiana had once told Elizabeth she wished someone had said those words to her when she was sixteen. No performance. No expectation.
Darcy moved closer to Elizabeth. "Thank you."
Elizabeth whispered, "Mary did it."
"For noticing her."
Elizabeth looked toward her sister. "I failed to once."
Darcy's hand brushed hers where their bodies hid the movement. "Not now."
Across the room Lydia said something outrageous about officers.
Georgiana laughed.
Darcy stared.
Elizabeth smiled. "She needs that too."
"Lydia?"
"Noise. Georgiana needs ordinary noise. Not everyone walking around her grief."
Darcy looked at his sister.
Lydia was showing Georgiana a ridiculous blue ribbon and arguing that it would improve any gown in England. Georgiana, who had spent months surrounded by people speaking softly around her, was smiling.
Darcy nodded.
He understood.
This was how healing happened.
Not by erasing Ramsgate.
By building life around it until the wound stopped being the largest thing in the room.
Before Georgiana left, Mary offered to lend her a collection of Italian songs. Georgiana accepted. Lydia demanded that Georgiana return soon because she had not yet shown her the fastest route to Meryton. Kitty quietly brought out a sketch of Longbourn's east garden.
Georgiana looked at it for several minutes. "You did this?"
Kitty blushed. "It isn't very good."
"I think it is lovely."
Kitty looked as though she had been given a medal.
Elizabeth saw that too.
So did Darcy.
Another small thing.
Another life nudged sideways.